Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) (R) and Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (L) shake hands in the Air Force One Pavilion at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley, Calif. on April 5, 2023. (Photo by Mario Tama/Getty Images)
A group of House Republicans is calling on the Biden administration to support Taiwan by inviting the island’s democratically elected president to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit, which will be held in San Francisco in November.
Rep. Lance Gooden (R-Texas) made the request in two letters to President Joe Biden (pdf) and Secretary of State Antony Blinken (pdf). Both letters, co-signed by 20 other House Republicans, said that excluding Taiwan’s President Tsai Ing-wen from the meeting would send the wrong message to China.
“Excluding Taiwan’s full participation in APEC at the behest of the Chinese Communist Party sends the wrong message and contradicts the U.S. commitment to supporting a free Taiwan and rejecting China’s provocative One-China Policy,” Gooden said in a statement on April 19.
“I urge President Biden to recognize Taiwan’s significant contributions to regional and global stability and its critical role in the Asia-Pacific region,” Gooden added. “By extending a formal invitation to President Tsai Ing-wen, the United States can demonstrate its commitment to a strong partnership with Taiwan and its dedication to peace and stability in the region.”
In the letters, the lawmakers pointed to Taiwan’s leadership in the semiconductor industry, and how the island’s contribution has become an “indispensable component of the United States’ own economic and national security.
“We believe President Tsai Ing-wen deserves our full respect as much as Taiwan deserves fair and equal treatment on par with those of other recognition and standing in APEC member states,” the letters state.
APEC
Founded in 1989, APEC is an inter-governmental forum of 21 Asia-Pacific economies, including Canada, the United States, Mexico, Peru, Chile, Russia, Japan, South Korea, China, Hong Kong, Taiwan, Thailand, Papua New Guinea, and Australia. Because the 21 members are deemed economies, China did not block Taiwan’s membership when the island joined the group in 1991.
However, Taiwan joined under the moniker “Chinese Taipei”—which has since remained its official title at the forum.
The Chinese communist regime views Taiwan as a territory that should be united with the mainland—by force if necessary. As a result, the regime opposes the island’s participation in international organizations, because that might suggest that Taiwan is a de facto nation state.
Between 1989 and 1992, APEC met as an informal senior official- and ministerial-level dialogue. The annual meeting was elevated to the head-of-government level in 1993, when then-U.S. President Bill Clinton convened the first APEC Economic Leaders’ Meeting in Seattle.
Due to China’s opposition, Taiwan’s presidents have never been invited to participate in the APEC summit themselves. Instead, the island has been represented by an envoy appointed to the annual event by the Taiwanese president.
TSMC founder Morris Chang speaks during a press conference at the Presidential Office in Taipei, Taiwan, on Nov. 13, 2021. (Sam Yeh/AFP via Getty Images)
Each year since 2018, Tsai has named Morris Chang, founder of the world’s largest contract chipmaker, Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC), as her representative to the APEC summit.
At the 2018 APEC summit in Port Moresby, the capital of Papua New Guinea, Chang held talks with then-Vice President Mike Pence on the sidelines of the meeting. Pence participated in the summit on behalf of then-President Donald Trump.
Vice President Kamala Harris, who represented the United States at the 2022 APEC summit in Thailand, said in November 2022 that she “look[s] forward to welcoming APEC Leaders to San Francisco next year” after the city was chosen to host the 2023 event.
China
Beijing would likely be infuriated if the Biden administration invites Tsai and welcomes the Taiwanese President in traveling to San Francisco for the summit.
Last month, Tsai arrived in New York on a stopover before traveling to Taiwan’s diplomatic allies Guatemala and Belize. On her way home, she had another stopover in California, where she met with House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library in Simi Valley.
In retaliation, Beijing held three-day, large-scale military drills around Taiwan, including simulated precision strikes and blockades.
Speaker of the House Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) greets Taiwanese President Tsai Ing-wen (L) on arrival at the Ronald Reagan Presidential Library for a bipartisan meeting in Simi Valley, Calif., on April 5, 2023. (Mario Tama/Getty Images)
“House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s recent meeting with President Tsai Ing-Wen was a display of our unwavering support for the people of Taiwan,” Gooden’s letters say. “It is critical that U.S. leaders continue to affirm our bottom line of supporting a free Taiwan.”
The letters went on to elaborate that existing U.S. law, including the Taiwan Travel Act, stipulates that the Taiwanese President is welcome in the United States.
Trump signed the Taiwan Travel Act into law in March 2018 to encourage more high-level official exchanges between the United States and Taiwan.
Excluding Taiwan’s “full participation” in APEC “is tantamount to the U.S. asking China for a permission slip to conduct bilateral foreign relations,” the letters state.
The letters’ signees include Reps. Lance Gooden (R-Texas), Cathy McMorris Rodgers (R-Wash.), Burgess Owens (R-Utah), Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.), Scott DesJarlais (R-Tenn.), Brian Babin (R-Texas), George Santos (R-N.Y.), Randy Weber (R-Texas), Tom Tiffany (R-Wis.), Pete Stauber (R-Minn.), Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), and Lisa McClain (R-Mich.).
Frank Fang is a Taiwan-based journalist. He covers U.S., China, and Taiwan news. He holds a master's degree in materials science from Tsinghua University in Taiwan.
